Now Hughes has made a man out of Morten

When Mark Hughes became Blackburn boss in September 2004, he feared Morten Gamst Pedersen was not physically suitable for Premiership football.

Two-and-a-half years on, Hughes admits he can barely afford to be without him.

Toughened up by his manager, the Norway winger contributed two goals as Blackburn brushed aside City and he will clearly have a crucial role if his team are to make a late dash for a European place.

Hughes said: "When I first came I didn't even play him until the following January. I didn't think he was ready for the power and pace of the Premiership.

"He certainly is now. That was a physical game out there today and he withstood everything.

"He's probably the fittest player in my squad and runs greater distances than anyone else during a game. Morten is certainly a big player for us and someone who wants to make an impact.

"More often than not when we're playing well and scoring Morten is involved. He probably had a hand in 50 per cent of the goals we scored last season and he was there for us again in this game. He is invaluable when he is in this type of form."

Costing £1.5million when he was signed from Tromso by previous Rovers manager Graeme Souness in August 2004, Pedersen represents the type of value that is proving so hard to come by in the current transfer window.

On Saturday he was as terrific down the left side as team-mate David Bentley was down the right.

Pedersen brought a wretched game to life just before half-time when he escaped the lazy attention of Hatem Trabelsi to head in Bentley's cross.

The 25-year-old then effectively wrapped up the game in the second period by curling a free-kick past Nicky Weaver with the help of City striker Georgios Samaras, who appeared to duck out of the way in the defensive wall.

Pedersen said: "It was tough at the start of this season.

"I had broken some ribs and had an ankle problem. I seemed to be taking one step forward and two back. But I was working very hard and the manager stuck with me, which gave me a lot of confidence.

"Now I believe I'm paying him back for that and I want to continue with this form to the end of the season.

"My theory is that you should work hard when you're playing well and even harder when you aren't.

"That's what I've done this season. I stay behind to practise my free-kicks all the time to get the right technique. That gives me the confidence when I'm on the pitch."

Blackburn's win was sealed in injury-time when substitute Matt Derbyshire shrugged off a limp challenge from Stephen Jordan to beat Weaver from a tight angle.

Rovers' stand-in captain Robbie Savage, who had seen defender Andre Oooijer suffer a broken leg after an awkward fall, said Bentley deserves an England call.

In an apparent reference to Chelsea's Shaun Wright-Phillips, Savage said: "There are some people getting England call-ups who are not even in their team at club level so why isn't David Bentley getting called up?

"I don't know another player right now who can produce that sort of ball with such pace and whip on it."

With Blackburn in the top half of the table and on a run of seven wins out of nine, it is quite right that they should be eyeing the top six.

As for City, who knows what to think?

Stuart Pearce's side were on a decent run of their own but produced one of those lifeless performances of which they are sadly very capable.

Without the suspended Joey Barton to drive them on, City were awful throughout. They may have had a penalty in the first half when Micah Richards' header appeared to strike Bentley on the hand but to dwell on that would be to miss the point.

Pearce admitted: "We've won games without Joey before so I don't want to dwell on that. This was not good enough and as manager I have to stand up and accept that."